An Opponents Perspective Of The Allegedly Improved Matt Rempe

Matt Rempe hit the New York hockey scene last season and turned into the puck version of Jeremy Lin, or “Lin-sanity” as it was at Madison Square Garden.

Each time Rempe hit the ice, the Garden crowd was instantaneously buzzing, nearly drooling, hoping for the next Rempe moment — a fight, a hit, or even an almost-hit!

The MSG fans loved every bit of Rempe-mania, and it’s fair to say that the lower bowl on the Ranger end of the ice showed up uncharacteristically early to watch No. 73 in warm-ups.

And when the camera isolated on the one-knee-on-the-ice Rempe via Garden-vision, the place would go wild, and the ever-aware youngster would smile ear to ear as he looked up at the big screen at center ice.

His debut was nothing short of legendary, going toe-to-toe with one of the NHL’s good-guy/tough-guys — New York Islanders forward Matt Martin, in front of 70,000-plus fans at MetLife stadium.

Rempe went on to fight and hit throughout his debut season and postseason, sometimes with reckless abandon.

And through a series of face-thumpings and Peter Laviolette benchings, No. 73 learned to be more selective when to drop the mitts (which seemed like every game early on) after taking a few too many rights from Columbus Blue Jackets slugger Mathieu Olivier.

Then there was the back-and-forth with Devils Kurtis MacDermid, culminating in an old-school line brawl at MSG that was hard to believe.

But the optimism about Rempe-mania — and it certainly was fun to cover and watch in real-time — has a realistic side as well.

With all the good times, smiles, and hoopla he stirred on Broadway — fights, hits, and goals included — one can’t overlook his shortcomings. At the end of the day, this is the NHL.

Seeing Rempe play many of his NHL games live in person, my Rempe summer improvement wish list included SKATING (in several ways), shooting, receiving passes, and adjusting (which he sometimes looks awkward doing).

Skating would top my list because the freight-train is downright scary in stature alone. With a head…